So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable.
Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Cor 15:58)

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Today Reminder - 21 November 2012 (I am who I am)

A reminder
for today

God
replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM
has sent me to you." (Exodus 3:14)

God can only be God:

Wow, I just can’t help writing to you about this powerful
statement made by God to Moses. When Moses asked God whom he must say send him
to them, God replied “I am, who I am”.

God is God and there is no other. Just so that we
remember who we serve: When Moses talked to God at the burning bush, he asked
Him His name. God replied merely, "I am that I am," referring to His
self-existence, the Being of beings, eternal and unchangeable. (Rich Deem)

God is the personal being who walked and talked with Adam
and Eve, the first human beings, in the Garden of Eden. God is also Saviour of
mankind, coming to Earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth to provide the
ultimate example of holiness and the ultimate sacrifice for humanity's
evilness, in order to restore our personal relationship with Him.

Who is God?

According to Christianity, God is the self-existent One,
having no need of being created, since He has existed forever and is the cause
of all things, including the dimension of time, to which He is not subject. Likewise,
God is not subject to the physical creation, but is spiritual in nature,
residing in the spiritual dimensions of heaven. God's power over the physical
creation is absolute, such that He can manipulate matter, energy, space, and
time at will. For this reason, God is said to be all powerful—able to
accomplish any possible task He wills to do. Along with being all powerful, God
is also all knowing—having knowledge of all things that are possible to be
known, including the entire history of the universe—past, present, and future.
Because God is all powerful (omnipotent) and all knowing (omniscient), He is
also able to be present at all places at all times (omnipresent). God is also
all loving—according to the Bible, "God is love" (1 John 4:16).
The love of God prompted Him to create human beings in His image, in order to
share His love with us. The Christian scriptures say that we can fulfil the
entire law of God by loving Him and loving our fellow human beings (Matthew
22:37-40). God is absolutely holy—without any moral or character defect. In
fact, the Bible says that God is incapable of doing any evil, despite
being all powerful. God is unchangeable. In other words, He does not change any
of His attributes or character at any time. Despite humanity's tendency to
change its definition of morality, God's moral character does not evolve with
the times, but remains constant.

Where is God?

The Bible says that God cannot be contained within the
universe (1 Kings 8:27). In addition, the Bible says that God fills both heaven
and earth (Jeremiah 23:24), which is a Hebrew idiom to describe the entire
universe. So, God is both transcendent and immanent simultaneously. God's
normal abode is in heaven, which is not located within the physical universe.
According to the Bible heaven seems to operate under different physical laws,
with the laws of thermodynamics seeming to be absent. So, the question
"Where is God?" is not one that can be answered with the knowledge we
possess. (Extract from Rich Deem)

My dear friend, the God we serve is much greater than we
think. I pray that your spirit will be lifted and that your walk will be full
of joy and that your faith will be unbreakable, in Jesus name.

Book for the month

Many Christians feel bombarded by the messages they hear and the trends they see in our rapidly changing world. How can we resist being conformed to the pattern of this world? What will faithfulness to Christ look like in these tumultuous times? How can we be true to the gospel in a world where myths and false visions of the world so often prevail? In This is Our Time, Trevin Wax provides snapshots of twenty-first-century American Life in order to help Christians understand the times. By analyzing our common beliefs and practices (smartphone habits, entertainment intake, and our views of shopping, sex, marriage, politics, and life’s purpose), Trevin helps us see through the myths of society to the hope of the gospel. As faithful witnesses to Christ, Trevin writes, we must identify the longing behind society’s most cherished myths (what is good, true, beautiful), expose the lie at the heart of these myths (what is false and damaging), and show how the gospel tells a better story – one that exposes the lie but satisfies the deeper longing.

Movie of the month

The pre-ministry life of Jesus from his baptism with John the Baptist to his exploration of the wilderness